In most instant lottery ticket games a set of tickets is printed or in electronic games the tickets displayed on a computer or video lottery terminal screen with play or prize value indicia under a scratch-off coating according to a predetermined prize structure. For electronic tickets, termed “eTickets” the data is transferred from a central system or a site controller to the video lottery terminal. Typically, the prize structure consists of one or more large value prizes, a number of lesser value prizes and a large number of tickets that are not prizewinners. The prize values in a game are distributed randomly on the tickets so that in theory each player has an equal chance to win one of the prizes.
In certain circumstances, however, problems have arisen with this type of game structure. There are, for instance, certain lottery administrations in the United States that post on their web sites the remaining prizes within a game. As a result, a lottery administration might post, for example, that there are two $100,000 prizes in a particular game. As the game is sold, the tickets having the various prizes are cashed. In some cases, the game will still have a significant number of tickets to be sold after the top prizes are cashed. This can lead to complaints from customers that it is no longer possible to win one of the top prizes as advertised by the lottery administration in its general promotional literature. Moreover, state-run lotteries can include in their contract with the game vendor the restriction that players must have the opportunity to play for the top prize throughout the life of the game.
In many instant lottery systems, especially those in the United States that are administered by state governments, winning tickets are presented by players to lottery agents for redemption. In many cases, in particular where the ticket has a high value, the lottery agent will enter ticket identification or validation data from the ticket into an agent terminal using a bar code reader or manually inputting this data. This information is then transmitted to a host computer at the state lottery administration where this information is used to access a validation file. Typically, there is one record in the validation file for each such winning ticket that contains the redemption value of the ticket. This redemption value is transmitted to the lottery terminal and if the transmitted redemption value matches the printed winning value on the lottery ticket, the agent will pay this amount to the player. Similarly, in electronic lottery systems, winning eTicket vouchers are presented by players to lottery agents or lottery validation systems for redemption. In many cases, in particular where the eTicket has a high value, the lottery agent or system will transfer eTicket identification or validation data from the eTicket into an agent terminal via a bar code or manually inputting this data. This information is then transmitted to a host computer at the state lottery administration where this information is used to access a validation file. As with the instant ticket systems, there typically is one record in the validation file for each such winning eTicket that contains the redemption value of the ticket. This redemption value is transmitted to the agent terminal and if the transmitted redemption value matches the printed winning value on the voucher, the agent will pay this amount to the player. Usually the validation file contains a fixed or static prize value for all tickets that contain a winning prize value. However, while maintaining a static prize value for each ticket in the validation file has been considered desirable from a security standpoint, maintaining the static value reduces the flexibility of lottery administrations to create new types of games and to compensate for various problems such as the problem described above.